How the video game Fortnite is helping the growth potential of one Peoria business

Wes Huett of the Journal Star @weshuett

Wednesday

Oct 10, 2018 at 4:13 PMOct 10, 2018 at 4:23 PM

PEORIA — Marshawn Evans carries himself with the swagger of an elite athlete.

Competitors keep a keen eye. Haters don't faze him.

What differentiates the kid from Peoria?

Well, he's 11-years old. And he excels at video games. Specifically he excels at "Fortnite," the battle royale video game turned cultural phenomenon that's become the obsession of school kids across the world.

This is how Fortnite works: One hundred players enter an online virtual map, gather weapons and work to eliminate one another. Last one standing gets the "Victory Royale" — or "dub," as in "W," as in "win."

“Just at the center, he’s beyond anything that I’ve ever seen,"said Brandon Pence, co-owner of LANmark Video Gaming and eSports Center in Peoria, one of the only places in Peoria where kids like Marshawn can put their electronic exploits on display.

LANmark hosts local Fortnite tournaments every two weeks, with the next slated for 6 p.m. Oct. 19. The first tournament, in June, drew enough people that lines snaked out the door, says Pence. Others have been more manageable.

Marshawn — whose gamertag is "Nopeclan" — won the first three Fortnite tournaments hosted at the center. He took third in another and second last week — the latest event drawing 42 players.

“Goes to show," Pence says, "it does take skill."

BIG MONEY GAMES

And it takes a place like LANmark. The esports industry is worth $905 million and could grow to near $1.4 billion by 2020, according to a study cited in the Washington Post. Video games are not only a hobby, they are becoming a legitimate competition.

And legitimate money.

LANmark on Saturday is scheduled to host a Zehn Masters Fortnite duos qualifier from noon- 3p.m. The winner of that local event — one of 15 Zehn Masters qualifiers scheduled across the continent — returns to LANmark at noon Oct. 20 to face other LAN winners in a Wide Area Network (WAN) competition. The Zehn Masters WAN pays out $1,200 to the top two, with nearly $1,000 promised to the winner.

Yet those prize amounts are child's play compared to the amounts of money being throw around at the highest levels of competitive gaming.

EPIC Games, which makes Fortnite, pledged $100 million dollars to help accelerate the growth of competitive gaming. Larger video game competitions are playing to sold-out crowds from coast (Los Angeles' Staples Center) to coast (New York's Barclays Center). The NBA last year began its own esports league.

LOCAL BOY, LOCAL DREAM

With that type of interest, Pence thinks his place can flourish. Yet while he's hoping for financial success, the former football standout at Limestone opened LANmark this summer as the culmination of his lifelong "addiction" to video games.

“This is something I’ve always wanted to open, even when I was younger," Pence said, "and it’s so nice it’s finally come to fruition."

LANmark is housed in one of the former theaters at Landmark Recreation Center. The space is sleek. Cast in a blue glow, the cool and darkened room is stocked up and down with 32 video game consoles and 21 computers — each with an oversized gamer chair. They have headsets for all, too.

During a recent Fortnite event, kids and adults made their way into the theater space as fingers clicked on keyboards and thumbs flicked away at controllers. The theater-sized screen on the back wall flashed with the Fortnite live stream of Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, the blue-haired face of competitive video games. Ninja has crossed over into a mainstream sports success. ESPN recently profiled Ninja, and even put him on the cover of their magazine.

Less than 15 minutes after the tournament's scheduled start time at LANmark, the space was filled.

The popularity is no surprise. Nearly three-quarters of Americans between the ages of 14 and 21 have played an online multiplayer game — or watched someone play online — in the past year, according to a survey conducted last year by The Washington Post and the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.

SOCIAL GATHERING

Among those in the crowd was 17-year-old Benton "HeyItsBenton" Gilmore, a high school student at Illini Bluffs. He took second place to Marshawn in two of the previous Fortnite events.

But there's no animosity between the two, just playful ribbing. Gilmore, also a high school wrestler and a manufacturing intern at Caterpillar Inc., even stepped away at one point to help a younger gamer log onto his console.

"It's called 'toxicity.' You don't have that here," Gilmore says, emphasizing it as he talks. "So many players (online) are toxic, and you get rid of that when you come here.

"People just aren't as mean to each other when it's face-to-face."

Pence emphasizes the positive social aspects at LANmark, pointing to players who not only play in the center but also frequent its Discord server, Twitch streams and Facebook page.

LANmark also hosts Super Smash Bros. tournaments every Monday. Pence hopes to add games like HALO, Madden NFL or the NBA2K series. Whatever he adds, Pence says, it'll be done organically, with the input of the LANmark players.

“I’m excited. I’m just excited for the turnouts and to have a good community that’s into gaming," Pence said. "Esports are definitely alive in Peoria, and people want to get down in a place like this."

Wes Huett is Journal Star sports editor. Reach him at 686-3204 or whuett@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @WesHuett.

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